Reviewing the 8/18/11 episode of IMPACT WRESTLING…
1. As Sting bumped and rolled down to ringside, I worried for the well being of a 52 year old going a little overboard. Good thing Sting didn’t strain anything. The Ric Flair segment was very good and definitely built up anticipation for one more match between the two although where it went, I have no idea. I have to admit, tho, the Hulk Hogan/Flair segment afterwards was a little odd. Flair almost seemed too flighty, almost as insane as Sting in his overselling of his assurance to Hogan he would win. Hopefully they have the match at the PPV as nothing happened this week. Ric Flair challenged Sting which led to a warehouse, then a tease and ended with a fight between Sting and Flair’s hired gun…no pun intended, Gunner for some odd reason. Flair ran off yelling “Gunner you’re fired” whatever that will lead to as Sting laid out Gunner.
2. Finally the old Samoa Joe rears his ugly head vowing to cripple and eliminate all competitors in the Bound For Glory tournament. He started with Devon. To further gain his trust, Pope made the save before Joe could touch Devon’s kids who hopped the rail(security anyone?) to stop Joe’s further beat-down of their father as Devon writhed in pain. Joe post break came back with a very strong promo in the backstage area to reiterate his cause.
3. Separated at birth: Mark Haskins and Brian Kendrick.
4. Um, didn’t Robbie E. dump Cookie last week, TNA? Can we get some explanation from the announcers to even try to explain they reconciled after TNA made a big deal about showing it last week, why would it hurt to follow up on something you devoted time to? To top it off Cookie ridiculously got up on the apron as soon as Robbie E. entered the ring and distracted him to lead to his much welcomed quick elimination. Just repackage them already and end the pain.
5. TNA finally followed up on Winter’s Knockout title win by showing a backstage segment with the new Champion Winter and Angelina Love celebrating as Winter ran down Mickie and assured her victory in two weeks when she faces Mickie one more time. The tone was a bit different as Angelina’s mannerisms suggested less than flattery of Winter talking about holding her title forever. Angelina seemed a bit annoyed, indifference or perhaps silent jealousy. The nice little tidbit showed them toast at the end and Winter drinking with what looked like blood on her lips. Angelina just stared down at her glass, which Winter may not have caught. This suggests some chicanery is forthcoming. Either Angelina will cost Winter her victory or even if Winter wins, there is going to be an inevitable clash of egos. Possibly revenge by Angelina for all these months. The belt is more important that anything and a feud between the two should prove that.
6. Move of the Night:
Kid Kash‘s Double Underhook piledriver on Jesse Sorensen. Very wicked looking and very dangerous.
7. Line of the Night:
a. Kurt Angle to Crimson
Kurt Angle– “They brought me in to make you. Because without me, you’re nothing but an uncoordinated green ass little bitch. And it takes a star like me to make you.”
8. Notable Matches of the Night
X-Division Gauntlet match
Featured quick pins in some cases, but the match wasn’t going to be given a tremendous amount of time. Alex Shelley, Robbie E., Mark Haskins, Zema Ion, Anthony Nese, Kid Kash, Jesse Sorensen were the order of eliminations with Austin Aries coming out on top. The order of eliminations determined the ranking of the X-Division in a cool touch. There will be a feud with Sorensen and Kash after Kash laid out Sorensen with the double underhook piledriver to help Aries win the match which he did with his brainbuster. Nice match.
Mickie James vs. ODB
Despite the lack of ODB’s high octane entrance, ODB with Jackie came out to face Mickie. They had a solid Knockouts match that had the crowd into it and clean decisive finish. Jackie slapped Mickie’s hand after the match. Perhaps the two will square off down the line, which would be interesting to see.
RVDÂ vs. AJ StylesÂ
Great match for what it was, but spoiled by Jerry Lynn and the ongoing storyline of him interfering in Rob’s matches. I don’t mind that at all because RVD vs. AJ should be a PPV caliber match and people should be paying for a finish between the two. Plus, this has to be leading to a PPV rematch between RVD and Jerry which I’ve been begging for, for a while now.
9. Final Show Thoughts:
Eric Young continued his search for Scott Baio in LA to prove he is the true Champion of TV. Okay. Austin Aries won a X-Division Gauntlet match to become #1 contender. In a nice heated intense exchange between Crimson and TNA World Champion Kurt Angle, a match is made between the two of them for next week. Beer Money was robbed of their titles as not only was the finish littered with interference from the usual mamacitas, but both Karen and Jeff Jarrett got involved leading to Hernandez hitting Bobby Roode with the Double J Mexican title to win it for his team. The Jarretts celebrated with Mexican America. A very cheap victory but accomplishes getting the titles off of Beer Money for their singles run and they were not beaten decisively.
10. IMPACT PLAYERS of the WEEK:Â
Austin Aries, Jesse Sorensen, Mickie James, RVD, AJ Styles, Samoa Joe
A Double got the big X-win, Jesse was pushed in the gauntlet match, another solid match for Mickie, RVD and AJ both shined and Joe seemingly breaks out of his constraints.
That is all.
M.C. Brown
You can find me on Twitter as
ShocXwavE
